


christmas and cuddles

by fandomsnthings



Series: Kids, Someday, Maybe? [5]
Category: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid
Genre: Christmas fic, F/M, Kid Fic, fluffy af, it kinda goes all over the place but that's fine, this is prolly ooc but im here for a good time not a completely accurate time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27984528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsnthings/pseuds/fandomsnthings
Summary: Christmas morning in the Matthews-Perkins household.
Relationships: Paul Matthews & Emma Perkins, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Series: Kids, Someday, Maybe? [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981244
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	christmas and cuddles

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with another paulkins kid fic that nobody asked for babeyyyy!!! This time it's Christmas themed because Christmas is all I'm thinking about atm!!!
> 
> I love these babies and I hope this makes you smile!

“Mama! Daddy!” 

A soft yell cut through the silence of Emma and Paul’s bedroom, waking them up suddenly. The former propped herself up on her elbow, squinting at the shadowy form of her daughter in the doorway. 

“It’s Christmas, Mama! Santa came!” The three-year-old said excitedly, bouncing up and down on her toes. 

“Are you sure Santa came?” 

“Yes! I see the presents when I getted out of bed!” Eloise grinned. 

“I was just joking. Of course he came. You’re the best-behaved kiddo on the planet, so there’s no surprise there,” Emma said, reaching out her arms. Eloise bounded over and climbed onto the bed, launching herself into her mother’s lap and giggling into the tight hug she provided. 

Emma pressed a long kiss to the child’s forehead, laying back down with the girl in her arms, “Merry Christmas, angel.” 

They did this every Christmas. The first couple of years, when Eloise was little and still confined to a crib, she would wake up and make noise which Emma would hear over the baby monitor before Paul, as she was a lighter sleeper. She’d go and get the baby, and, not wanting to get up completely just yet because it wasn’t as if an infant understood the concept of Christmas, she’d bring Eloise back into their bed and cuddle her for a while. 

The year before had been the first year that Eloise had been in an unenclosed bed. She had woken up rather early and found herself wandering into her parents’ room because she had gotten lonely and wanted to open her presents. It was 6 AM when she had climbed into bed and nestled herself up next to her mother, and Emma had wanted her to rest a little longer so she wouldn’t get cranky later in the day when they visited Paul’s family.

Cuddling with Eloise in the morning before opening presents was Emma’s favorite part of the entire Christmas Day. These moments, where it was just them as their little family, peaceful and quiet, had started to dwindle slightly as Eloise grew older. She wanted to hold onto them as long as she could. 

“Merry Christmas, Mama,” Eloise murmured into Emma’s chest, her smile never fading. They laid there in silence for a few minutes before Paul turned over with a sigh and wrapped his arms around the both of them. 

“Hey ladies,” he said softly, his eyes still closed. They were lucky she hadn’t woken them up earlier - it was 7:30, and he had been convinced she’d join them in bed by 6 at the latest like last year - but it was still early for a day off, and he wasn’t keen on waking all the way up yet. 

“Daddy, it’s Christmas,” Eloise mused quietly.

“Yeah? You excited to open your presents?” 

“Mhm!” Eloise chirped, “Excited to open your presents?” 

“Oh, munchkin, Santa doesn’t bring mommies and daddies presents, remember? Only kiddos,” he said softly, blinking open his eyes. They had definitely tried to explain this to her before, but she was still too young to completely understand.

Eloise pouted up at him from Emma’s shoulder, “Why not?” 

“Because Santa knows the best present I could have is spending the morning with you and Mama,” Paul explained softly, smiling down at his daughter, “He knows I don’t need anything else.” 

Emma snorted, but he could see a blush spread across her cheeks, “Sappy much?” 

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth,” he said, pressing a kiss to the back of her head, “I never really liked Christmas as an adult until I was with you, Em. It was lonely. And now it’s even better because we’re a family. Santa knows that I don’t need presents because I got the best present of all when I met Mama, and when you were born, and that was Christmas not being lonely anymore.”

“Daddy, me and Mama got you a present!” Eloise whispered, not really grasping the sentiment of his ramblings,“Don’t worry, you still get a  _ real _ present.” 

“El! That was supposed to be a surprise!” Emma said, throwing her head back in joke exasperation. 

“Daddy and me got you a present too,” Eloise smiled. 

“Okay, we gotta work on secret-keeping with you,” Paul chuckled, “You’re not really supposed to tell people when you get them presents or what the presents are, sweetie.” 

“Well, then how will they know!?” 

“When you give it to them, silly,” Emma said, tickling the little girl’s sides until she squealed in a laugh, “Okay, I think it’s time to open these presents, yeah?” 

“Yes! Yes!” Eloise said, pulling out of Emma’s arms and hopping out of the bed. She stood and watched attentively as her parents climbed out from under the covers, the sleeves of her flannel Christmas pajamas hanging down comically past the tips of her fingers. They had ended up being too big for her tiny frame, even though they bought the same size that they always got for her. 

“We should always have matching pajamas,” Eloise mused as Emma grabbed her phone off of the nightstand to take pictures and Paul put on his glasses, all the while wearing the same patterned pajamas as she was, “I like them!” 

“They wouldn’t be special if we wore them all the time,” Paul reminded, walking up and holding out his hand for her. She took it eagerly before holding her other out for Emma, and they walked together to the living room. 

“See! Look at the presents Santa left!” Eloise exclaimed, pulling on her parents’ hands excitedly. 

There was a pile of presents stacked neatly underneath their Christmas tree that Eloise had picked out at the tree farm. Emma nudged Paul and rolled her eyes when she saw the number of gifts there; she had pleaded with him that they should lay off on the number of presents this year because they needed to save money for a house and save space in their apartment, and she thought that they  _ had  _ laid off. He must have been hiding things or spreading things out so she wouldn’t notice how much there actually was because he knew she would scold him.

He loved spoiling his daughter, and she couldn’t be mad when he shrugged slightly and sent her an embarrassed smile. She couldn’t pretend that she didn’t like buying Eloise everything that she asked for, too.

(Within reason - they couldn’t really get her a pet unicorn or dinosaur, like she pleaded for once a week.) 

Her daughter was the sweetest, kindest, most amazing kid. Eloise was always helping others, and asking people how they were doing and if they were okay, and always knew how to make them feel better. She deserved it. 

Someday, Emma thought, they’d save the last bit of the money they needed to buy a house, and Eloise could have a playroom so the toys weren’t scattered all over the place anymore, so it wouldn’t matter if they splurged on things for her every once in a while. Yeah, that sounded good. 

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind as Eloise bounced towards the tree and dropped to her knees in front of the gifts. She looked back over her shoulder at her parents, patting the carpet with both hands on either side of her for them to come to sit down with her. 

As Emma sat, she said, “Okay, El. Which one first?”

Eloise considered it for a moment, her eyes surveying over the various sizes and shapes of wrapped packages in front of her, before she picked a tiny one off of the top, “This one!” 

The process continued as she went through all of the gifts one by one. She took great care in unwrapping each of them, and then gasped when she saw what it was, and then admired it for a good minute and a half before moving onto the next one. She said an enthusiastic ‘Thank you, Santa!’ to the ceiling as she opened each one, which made both Paul and Emma laugh each time and made their hearts warm.

There were some gifts, like a robotic puppy that they had picked out to hold her over until they could get a real pet and a plush T-Rex, that she requested get taken out of their packaging immediately, but for the most part, she set everything aside nicely and with care, ready for her to break into later. 

Soon, she was finished, and she was eager for both of her parents to open their presents. 

“Here, Daddy! This one is for you!” Eloise exclaimed, grabbing the small rectangular box from one of the drawers of their TV stand where she and Emma had hidden it. She skipped over to him and placed it gently in his lap. 

“Thank you, buddy!” Paul said as he unwrapped the box and opened it carefully, pulling out the object inside. He studied it for a moment before a big smile spread across his face. 

It was a travel coffee mug with a picture of Eloise printed on it, along with  _ I Love You, Daddy!  _ written in the child’s shaky toddler handwriting, obviously done with Emma’s help. Around the words were several heart shapes that, from their appearance and how commonly they were done on papers around their house, were obviously done by Eloise alone. 

“Aw, I love this!” He said happily, looking up from the cup. 

“You can bring it to Beanies and get it filled there. That way, you don’t have to use a paper cup every day,” Emma smiled, “And you can look at her cute little face all day. And when you come to get it filled, I can see her cute little face, so it’s for me too. Oh, and I got you a gift card to get some new clothes for work. It’s inside the cup.” 

“Thank you guys,” Paul grinned, “I really love it.” 

Eloise wrapped her chubby arms around his waist, squeezing him lightly, “You’re welcome, Daddy!”

“Okay, Em, here’s yours. El really helped me with picking it out,” Paul said, reaching behind him onto the couch and grabbing a long, skinny box.

She took it from him, unwrapping it slowly to reveal a black velvet jewelry box. She opened it, and inside, pillowed on shiny fabric, was a small circular silver charm on a necklace chain. The face of the charm had delicate wildflowers engraved upon it, and there were a few green jewels placed in the empty space around the flowers. It was gorgeous. 

“Aw, you guys… this is beautiful,” she said, looking up from the necklace, “I love it so much.” 

“Open it, Mama!” Eloise said excitedly, her hands clasping together in her lap, “It’s a locket!” 

Emma smiled before taking the charm into her hands, flicking it open gently. The photo inside made her gasp lightly. 

It was a picture of her, Paul, and Eloise that they had taken that summer when they went away to a cabin in the mountains just outside of Clivesdale for a little getaway. It was one of her favorite photos of their little family; there was just something about the happiness and bliss on their faces that made her heart warm. On the opposite side of the open locket from the photo were the words  _ Love You - P & E  _ engraved into the metal.

She bit her lip to stop herself from tearing up. Looking up at Paul and Eloise again, she whispered, “This is my favorite thing ever.” 

“Eloise picked out the locket because of how much you love flowers, and I decided on the picture because of how much you talk about it. And it’s the background on your phone, so I figured it was a safe bet,” Paul explained with a smile, “I wanted to get you a locket so you always have us with you, and if you’re having a tough day, you can look at it and feel better. Plus, the picture is interchangeable, so if you ever wanted a different one as El gets bigger, you’d be able to. You can change it as we change if you want.” 

“We went to the store, and I helped Daddy,” Eloise said happily, “He almost picked a heart, but I like that one better.” 

“I love it, angel. You made a great call!” Emma said, leaning over to press a kiss to the child’s head, “Thank you, baby.” 

She turned to look at Paul, who was looking at them with a loving grin on his face. She leaned to kiss him, “Thank you, Paul. It’s really the best.” 

“I’m really glad that you like it. I wasn’t sure if you’d want silver or gold since you don’t wear much jewelry besides your wedding ring. I figured you’d want them to match if it’s going to be something you wear every day, so I got it in silver,” he explained as Eloise turned her attention back to her own gifts, his hands wringing anxiously in his lap. 

He always claimed that he was terrible at giving presents and always doubted everything he chose, even though everything that he had ever gifted her took her breath away, or made her laugh, or just generally warmed her heart. It didn’t have to be something big or extravagant, and it almost never was, because he knew she would protest; the little things, like him coming home randomly with her favorite candy bar after she had a long week, or a gift card to the restaurant where they had their first date as a birthday present, never failed to remind her of how much she loved him, and how lucky she was to be the wife of this sweet doofus of a man. 

She reached out to squeeze his hand, “Babe, it’s perfect, okay? I love it. I mean it. Here, help me put it on. I want to start wearing it now.”

She carefully took the necklace out of the box and undid the clasp, using both hands to hold either side of the chain behind her neck and turning her back towards Paul. He reached forward, brushing some of the hairs at the nape of her neck that hadn’t made it into her bun to the side before taking the chain from her and linking the ends together once again. As he did so, he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her shoulder, and she leaned back into his torso once he had pulled away. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist as they gazed at their daughter, who was already organizing her new things and putting them into categories so they could be put away neatly. It was something she very clearly got from Paul, who Emma almost had to stop from labeling every damn shelf in the pantry with Post-Its so he could ensure it stayed organized when he realized that she had the tendency of just putting things away wherever they could fit. 

Emma couldn’t help but smile and shake her head; Eloise was exactly like both of her parents all at once. 

Emma and Paul had a lot of traits that were completely opposite. She didn’t understand how it was possible for her little girl to embody such a dichotomy of characteristics, all the while being her completely unique self. 

Emma loved every single part of Eloise. She wouldn’t change anything about her for the world. 

“I love our family,” Emma murmured to herself. She was loud enough, though, that Paul could hear her, and he leaned down to rest his chin on top of her head. 

“Me too,” he replied softly. 

They listened as Eloise happily babbled to her toys for a few moments before Emma spoke again, “Who’s gonna clean up this wrapping paper?” 

Paul groaned slightly, “That’s the worst part of the whole day. Why do we wrap things again?” 

“ _ We _ don’t wrap anything,” Emma reminded, her pointer finger jutting out towards their child to get him to watch what he said around her, “ _ Santa  _ does. And he wraps them because he likes how excited she gets when she gets to unwrap things. It wouldn’t be as fun if they were just in their packaging from the store.” 

“We could probably get her to pick it up if we asked,” he mused, only slightly joking. 

“Yeah, we’re not going to do that, although we know that she would and it would be funny. She’s having fun with her stuff,” Emma laughed lightly, “Wanna leave it until after we get back from your parents’ house?” 

“Definitely not,” Paul replied quickly, the response being the one Emma had been expecting. 

She laughed again, “Well, it’s teamwork or rock-paper-scissors, buddy.” 

“Eh, I’m not testing my luck. Teamwork it is,” he said. 

She sat up away from his chest and stretched before twisting around to kiss him. 

“Merry Christmas, Paul.” 

He hummed against her lips, whispering, “Merry Christmas, Em. I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

Emma went into the kitchen to grab a garbage bag, and when Eloise saw her return with it, she gasped, jumping up from the floor with fistfuls of torn wrapping paper in her hands, “Here, Mama! I help!” 

Paul threw his head back and laughed, standing up from the floor and joining them, picking up the pieces of brightly-colored paper and putting them in the bag as Emma held it open. When he straightened up, he whispered into her ear, “See, we didn’t even have to ask her for help! Maybe she would’ve done it for fun if we left it long enough.”

Emma smirked as Eloise bounded over and threw the paper into the bag in a slam-dunk fashion before turning to grab some more.

“What age do you think it’s appropriate to have her start taking the trash out for us? She’d probably do that for fun, too. We should get whatever help out of her that we can before she’s a teenager and doesn’t want to help us around the house anymore,” Emma said jokingly.

“Eh,” Paul shrugged, shoving another bundle of wrapping into the bag, “I think we have a few more years for that one. The bag is probably too heavy for her to carry and she’s too short to throw it into the dumpster. Maybe when she’s like, six, she can do it.” 

“Damn. I hate taking the trash out.”

“We can count down the days if you want. It's only a few more Christmases.”

**Author's Note:**

> I keep writing the fact that Paul and Eloise both like everything being clean and organized and I don't really know why. Emma thinks it's sweet that they're the same in that way though T-T (and is also glad that Eloise isn't messy like her because it keeps her apartment clean without having to try too hard).
> 
> Also, Paul and Emma would ABSOLUTELY wear matching pajamas because their daughter wants to and Paul DEFINITELY gets sappy when he talks about how much he loves his girls and Emma ABSOLUTELY always thinks about how grateful is to have such an amazing little family, OKAY???


End file.
